Hurricanes 4, Capitals 0: Justin Peters turned aside 26 shots for his second career shutout as visiting Carolina won for the sixth time in seven games.

Riley Nash scored twice and defenseman Joe Corvo also tallied as the Southeast Division-leading Hurricanes moved 10 points ahead of Washington, which suffered its third straight loss in the opener of the home-and-home series.

Peters, who was making his third start, registered his first shutout since blanking the Capitals on Feb. 20, 2012. Braden Holby, who shut out Carolina last month, made 32 saves.

Corvo gave the Hurricanes the only goal they would need at 3:55 of the first period. The defenseman wristed a bad-angle shot from behind the goal line that deflected off Holtby's mask and into the net.

Nash scored twice in a 12 1/2-minute span in the second period for his first career two-goal contest. Patrick Dwyer capped the scoring with an empty-net tally with 81 seconds remaining.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Corvo's goal was his fourth, matching his total in 75 games with the Boston Bruins last season. ... Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin was held without a point for the third straight game and remained stuck on 699 for his career. ... Hurricanes RW Alexander Semin assisted on the opening goal but otherwise had a rough night against his former teammmates. He was on the receiving end of inadvertent sticks to the face from Ovechkin and Holtby on the same shift.